Climate Highlights Week ending 6/17/23
Smoke, storms, and sweat—and a little bit of good news
Southern Sweltering
Last weekend’s combination of severe storms and severe heat in the southern US is demonstrating our vulnerability to climate change. The heat index hit 120°F in places, and many of those places do not have electric power due to the storms—and hence, no air conditioning. Overnight lows only cooled to the low 80s in many places, so people who are hot can’t cool off. This is the personal vulnerability to heat that we all face—excessive heat that we cannot survive. As the storm victims are discovering, just owning an air conditioner isn't enough—you must have electric power, too. Last week in the southern US is a reminder that we all need to consider how to maintain resilience through short-duration extreme climate events. Here's a guide on how to think through preparations for heat events: Preparing for the Heat: Climate Resiliency in a Burning World.
Smoke: The Threat We Had Not Considered
Two weeks ago New York City, Washington DC, and the rest of the east coast of the US was inundated with smoke from Canadian wildfires. Last week Minneapolis got hit. As bad as these events were, they could get worse—both in intensity and duration. Authorities say to stay indoors, but most people can’t do that. You have to get to work, get groceries, and go about your life, but there comes a point where it may be wise to handle smoke like you would a heat wave—don’t go out in it and risk your health.
Just like with heat, we now all need to create a plan for handling extreme short-term smoke. Good chance you should shut down your fresh air exchange system in your home or office. Turn on your HEPA air filters indoors. If you have to go out, it is likely time to bring back the dreaded N95 mask, albeit for different reasons now. As they say, these measures are particularly important if your health is compromised in any way.
The Job Opportunities in Solar
One thing holding back the development of solar other than the grid is workers. As a result, DOE is investing $13.5 million in workforce training programs to help meet that need. Why? PV Magazine lays it out:
“In order to reach SEIA's Solar+ Decade target of solar making up 30% of all U.S. electricity generation by 2030, SEIA estimates that the solar and storage industries will need an estimated 800,000 new workers for a total workforce of more than 1 million. DOE estimates that as many as 1.5 million workers will be needed by 2035 to achieve the Biden-Harris Administration's decarbonization goals.”
Those are big numbers and lots of jobs. When I worked in the industry, we had projects that could not get done because we didn’t have the people needed. And this is just one part of the new green workforce. HVAC and all home appliances need to be converted and newly installed. Car chargers need to be installed. If you want to make a personal difference in climate, fill one of these jobs. It matters.
NIMBY IS Going to Doom Us
The Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) people are cropping up now against the wind energy movement needed to save the planet. Whether it is wind farms off of Massachusetts or wind leases for development off of Oregon, local groups of all kinds are erupting to stop development. I’ve seen reports in the past describing similar reactions against grid improvements and solar installations, as well as against lithium and nickel mines.
The reactions are understandable when people perceive that they are making a sacrifice for the good of everyone else and no one else is making it. We’ve got to find a way to change this. Rather than fighting the government or the projects, we should change the ethic to this: Everyone has to contribute something to the solution, and what is the best contribution we can make here in this location? Eventually, there must be a system for that, but right now, we just need the ethic to change. NIMBY resistance is one thing slowing down the solution we need.
The Changing Economics of Carbon Capture
Until recently, carbon capture has been a capability without a way to get paid. As the Washington Post reports, however, new carbon pricing mechanisms in the EU and the US’s Inflation Reduction Act are turning this industry into a real business. Everything changes when the market forces change, and these new mechanisms for pricing carbon are having their effect. Oil companies are bidding on depleted oil fields in the North Sea to win the right to sequester carbon in those places, and the first CCS project on a cement plant goes operational next year in Norway. Cement, steel, and oil are three of the biggest carbon-producing industries, so until we find better ways to produce and obtain their products, carbon capture will be the way to go.
As we track the progress toward climate solutions, another dimension opens. We see crises, and we see new innovation. There is peril and there is hope. Some people have confidence, while others carry climate anxiety. These are the confusing swirls of the climate debate, and our challenge is to face it all with a clear-eyed vision. The reality is that peril and hope live together. We have faith and doubt. This is the human condition, and at one level, it is no different than it has always been. Yet at another level, the stakes could not be higher. This year, 2023, is already off to a rough start around the world, especially in terms of heat. Siberian temperatures over 100°F above the arctic circle. Sweltering heat indices of 120°F in the US. A heat wave in the North Atlantic Ocean. Canadian wildfires. Yet we know what to do to be prepared, to survive, and to come back with resilience. This is where we have to go now.
Anthony Signorelli
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